68 Days of Gourmet: Chili Lime Tilapia

I have said this before but I have to say it again. Weekly menu planning and shopping makes life so much easier. I have converted so many friends to this practice and believe me, it’s life changing. First, you save tons of stress by not having to worry about what to make for dinner and having time to make it to the store. Second, you save money by planning meals based on weekly specials and only making one trip. On average I spend between $65-$80 a week on our groceries. Whenever I go to the store for just one meal, I never leave without spending $20-$30. That would quickly add up if you were making nightly trips. Also, if you don’t already have a plan, there’s the added temptation to go out instead of cook.

All that said, tilapia was on sale for $3.99 a pound this week. It was just too good of a deal to pass up and tilapia is one of the few fish that I can get Brandon to eat without grumbling. I found this recipe on Epicurious and was surprised to see that it had received 456 reviews and had a 4-fork rating. It sounded like something we’d really enjoy. This recipe was so simple to make. You could have this on the table in 20 minutes – easy. The chili lime butter was so full of flavor and wonderful melted over the pan sauteed tilapia. Brandon told me at least 5 times during dinner that he loved this preparation and wanted to add it to the regular rotation. We also decided that the chili lime butter would be good melted over grilled flank or skirt steak.

Don’t be scared of the peppers in the butter. The flavors are very balanced and it’s not overly spicy. I had a couple bites with some kick but nothing too bad. The lime juice and zest really add a brightness to the dish. This is a great fish dish to add to your collection.

FOR THE CHILI LIME BUTTER
Mix together the butter, peppers, shallots, lime zest and juice and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

FOR THE FISH
Rinse fish and pat dry. Generously salt and pepper and then dredge in flour and shake off excess. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and heat until shimmers. Carefully place fish into skillet and cook about 2-3 minutes per side, until fish is golden brown and reaches an internal temperature of 135 degrees.

TO SERVE
Serve each piece with a dollop of chili lime butter. The butter will melt and spread over the fish.

Yield: 6 servings
(I made the full recipe of butter and only 2 tilapia fillets. We had a little bit of leftover butter but not tons – we are fatties and it was delicious! We kept spreading more on! :) )

10 Responses

I checked your blog to see if you had any good Tilapia recipes and found this! I like to eat a fair amount of fish but sometimes Tilapia can be plain to me. I loved this! Just made it tonight and it turned out wonderfully, so yummy! Thanks for the post :)

I made this recipe last night and it was DELICIOUS! I used 1 ½ Serrano pepper to give it an extra kick. After mixing the of the ingredients for the chili lime butter, I also added a few crushed red pepper flakes. I seasoned the Tilapia with garlic powder, salt, and pepper on both sides. After the fish was done cooking on one side I sprinkled a little of “seasoning all” on top. I served the Tilapia with minute rice and broccoli and cheese. I put the chili lime butter on the fish and the rice! My BF ate every last bite of the food and he said that this recipe is definitely a 10! It was very fast and easy to make. Thanks for the recipe!

[…] to cook at home on the weeknights. If you read my food blog then you know how much a believe in the power of menu planning. When someone asks for advice on cooking and how to find time to cook, my first […]

[…] I found a recipe for something similar that actually sounded even better to me. It’s called Chili Lime Tilapia. I found it on an awesome food blog which I am now officially crushing on–I love food so […]